Write To Taste Life Twice

On August 6th, I received an email from the Team of the Day One app with the following quote that really resonated with me and my Revive55 Project:

"We write to taste life twice, 

in the moment and in retrospect."

Anaïs Nin

I loved the quote and copied it for this blog post. The post was going to be about writing our stories but a few days later, I picked up a book writeen with daily entries that I hadn't opened in a while - Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach. I often find that I read something in it that is perfect for when I read it and I hoped that this trend would continue. 

I started by re-reading the entry I had read the last time I opened it:

"A wise woman once advised me not to be a 'would-be-if-I-could-be or a could-be-if-I-would be. 

Just be.' And while I have learned that dreams need doing as much as they need being,

 I have learned that the being always comes first."

This reminded me of what one of my friends said during our weekly progress meeting two days earlier:

"It's not a to do life, it's a to be life."

I stopped re-reading the post at that quote - being amazed at the coincidence and had to write an email update to our group. 

But as I continued reading the entry in the book to quote in the email, it said:

"Today is a day for being. Be with those you love, be kind to yourself. 

Be quiet and call forth the dream you buried long ago. 

The ember is still glowing in your soul. 

See it in your mind, hold it tenderly in your heart. 

"The dream was always running ahead of one," 

Anaïs Nin confessed. 

"To catch up, to live for a moment in union with it, 

that was the miracle."

Another coincidence I told them in the email, reminding them of the quote from the Day One email I had told them during our group call.

I had never "noticed"Anaïs Nai before although I had obviously read this passage before and now I was noticing her twice in one week.

I ended the email saying that I always look at these coincidences as me being on the right track encouraging me to keep going.

Fast forward to today (a week and a half later). To help in writing this post, I searched through my email for the message I sent to my group by searching for "Anaïs". Along with the email I was looking for (and the Day One email), I found one that my sister sent to a group in 2010 to let us know that she had arrived in Paris. A friend of hers replied and this was one of the two signature quotes at the bottom of her email:

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud 

was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." -Anais Nin

This quote was so perfect for today. 

Writing about these small coincidences (and bigger moments) allows me to "taste life twice" and to connect the dots to see how one moment flows into another. 

The first quote is perfect for the Day One App. I love the app to capture memories in words, photos and other media. It's a great app to relive memories and "taste life twice".